Study and examination achievements

Digital study and examination achievements can be coordinated via OpenOlat, AGORA or MS Teams. We present to you here:

first, the current legal framework for so-called “electronic” examinations (as of January 2022),
then provide you with information on the exam alternative “Take-Home-Exam” (THE),
then give you information on the collection of study achievements in AGORA, OpenOlat and MS Teams
and conclude with a small collection of tips on the topic.

Study achievements in AGORA, OpenOlat and MS Teams

AGORA: In order to implement a protected submission, in which only you as lecturer, as well as the individual seminar participants have access to the uploaded files, AGORA offers the “person workspace” function. You can find a tutorial on the topic in our AGORA help portal. This means that there is now a much simpler implementation than the scenario we previously advised about group rooms, which you can still find below if required (see also our tutorial on this in the AGORA help portal).

OpenOlat: Create a course element “Task” under “Administration” > “Course editor” > “Add course element”. After entering a task and the submission deadlines, you can configure under “Submission” whether the submission should take place in the OpenOLAT text editor and/or as a file upload. You can later download all files as a zip package and also display a total list of the submissions if you select the task as an administrator.

MS Teams: Analogous to the procedure in AGORA, protected channels can be created in MS Teams. To do so, go to “Teams” and select the corresponding tile for your course team. Next to the name of the team you will reach a settings menu via the three dots. There, select “Add channel” and enter a descriptive name and, if necessary, a descriptive text and please select “private” under “Privacy”. Individual members can then be added. In this way, all participants can create a channel and add you. Uploading then takes place in the “Files” tab.

Tips

Weigh up: Weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of the different systems before starting the course. In OpenOlat, for example, the examination course can be synchronised with the STiNE list of participants - i.e. all participants are automatically enrolled in the course if they are on the STiNE list. This advantage does not currently exist in AGORA. However, due to its flat hierarchical structure, AGORA allows an easy entry and offers you a simple solution with the “person room” function.
Unify: Use one and the same system for your course and the exam to avoid confronting students with technical uncertainties on the home stretch.
Name it: It is always helpful to demand a sensible and uniform naming of the files in order to be able to quickly list and assign the submitted performances. It is therefore best to specify a naming standard in the assignment, e.g. “AssignmentX-Name-FirstName-MatriculationNumber”. This way you avoid a flood of files with titles that are not very meaningful, such as “Test.docx” “Einfuehrung.ppt” and the like.
Delegate: For example, let the students take care of the creation of protected channels in MS Teams. This way you minimise your own workload. However, bear in mind that students have different levels of familiarity with the systems. Therefore, introduce the chosen platform in the course and show an example of the procedure you want to use.